Best box sets to give as holiday gifts this year
Great ideas for your music, television or movie-lovers.
With the holidays upon us, here’s a look at the best boxed sets available this season for the music, TV or movie-lover in your life:
(4 CDs, Reprise) The 60-track deluxe version includes previously unreleased songs, including a charming demo of “The Apartment Song” with Stevie Nicks, as well as live versions and alternate takes of the late Petty’s impressive rock catalog. Extras include a 52page booklet of rare photographs and a track-by-track liner notes breakdown by journalist Bud Scoppa. List price: $44.99 spirit, his surefire guest antics (a half-hour must-see that distills Williams’ loosecannon appeal). Topping the box is a 24-page photo booklet that includes joke quotes and intimate tour notes. List price: $200, sold only at RobinWilliams.com also Bergman’s early output from the 1940s and 1950s. List price: $299
(13 or 26 DVDs,
Time Life) Stooges fans can pick from two versions of this sprawling collection. The first offers nyuks aplenty with every Columbia Pictures short released from 1934 to 1945 — that’s 87 movies from the trio’s golden years. Not enough material? Why, you oughta go for the second option, a 26-disc collection with all 190 Columbia Shorts through 1959 — a veritable Encyclopedia Stoogeannica. Both sets include cartoons, feature films and a 9-part documentary on the performers’ families, “Hey Moe, Hey Dad!” List price: $99.95 for 13 DVD discs or $199.95 for 26 DVD discs. Available from timelife.com
— Rafer Guzman